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job market

The employment market appears set to continue its strength in the final quarter of 2012, according to a survey conducted by JobsCentral, Singapore’s leading job portal. This is against the backdrop of low unemployment rate of 2% in the country.

67.2% of the respondents, made up of HR professionals and hiring managers from both the private and public sectors, indicated that they will be hiring till the end of the year to fill new positions (excluding replacements from staff turnover). Majority of those who are hiring are from the small-medium enterprises (SME, 62.4%), while the multinational corporations (MNCs) take up 27.4%, and the public sector forms 10.2% of this group.

“In spite of the uncertain and rather slow global economy, Singapore employers are still faced with a very tight local labour market. This means that employers find it hard to even replace staff who resign and even harder to recruit new staff for expansion. This problem is further compounded by our overall shift towards less reliance on foreigners,” commented Mr. Lim Der Shing, CEO of JobsCentral Group.

“The situation is especially bad for SMEs, who may not have the resources and ability to compete with MNCs or the government in terms of compensation, benefits and career development and who have traditionally relied on foreigners. Certain sectors like the retail, hospitality and healthcare section face a tough time getting the people and employment permits they need to run their businesses,” he adds.